How sweet the fore-skin!

Our kitchen of ‘give and take’

The country was mesmerised. There was to be a ballot. Our Prime minister was to be challenged and it was on TV. We put on the kettle, settled on our divan and watched it all unfold. Scurrying politicians were seen running along the corridors of power at our Parliament. The King rat at front, the V shaped tribe following. It was all at fever pitch, 54 to 44 in favour of the challenger Malcolm Turnbull. Abbott was seen afterwards followed by his tribe. Malcolm graciously praising Abbott about his past leadership but glowing at his own success.

It was as good as Shakespeare. A human drama of huge proportions. Oscar Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Goal also came to my mind.

” He did not wear his scarlet coat, For blood and wine are red, And blood and wine were on his hands When they found him with the dead, The poor dead …”

In front of our town-house we have two cane chairs on which we sit in the late afternoon, usually after all the house-hold chores have been done. We are in the habit of a glass of red and either talk a bit or just look out at the snippet of garden that is facing us at the front. Of course , ‘after all the household chores are done’ seems to suggest waxing of furniture, scrubbing the doorstep, peeling potatoes and polishing the silver. That’s just nonsense. It means hours of pouring over the computer, dragging a mouse across and wishing for the day to pass at greater speed so we can get to the wine-reward a bit quicker.

On the ABC Drum has been a raging debate on Female circumcision, or better known in its abbreviated form of FGM. ( female genital mutilation) A flurry of responses by men defending or attacking the cutting of the fore-skin in men’s genitalia soon followed. So typical of men hijacking the debate. I was most guilty of it.

Race and religion, the pro and anti fore-skin defenders, it all came to fruition in over two hundred responses so far. The story was written about the practise of female mutilation in some sections of the community. A court case is ongoing at the moment of two little girls allegedly having undergone this practise. Two doctors have testified that no mutilation could be detected. The defence is arguing that the operation was ritualistic and did not include any cutting.

“Circumcision on the male is a cruel practise. The foreskin is meant to give increased pleasure during sexual congress by facilitating the penis to move freely up and down protecting it from a too vigorous thrusting.
To take that away diminishes the intensity felt during sex.

Of course, when men get old and reflect (while nodding in a comfy chair at the ‘Fair Haven’ retirement home)) on all that relentless up and down moving, might well come to the conclusion; is that what it has all been about? Is this what has driven me?

Was it all worth it?”

Fore-skin is raising its ugly head at this hour of 7.30 in the morning. Isn’t there something else you can write about? Well, yes but there has to be something else besides Abbott. We had two years of shade and darkness. People need to have a letting off steam. I can’t wait for the afternoon and getting outside on our cane chairs. Bask a little in spring sun. A glass of Shiraz and partner

13 Responses to “How sweet the fore-skin!”

The foreskin debate is what we men need. Women are just an appendix to our lives and who cares if they suffer from FGM. It is our pleasure we are talking about. Perhaps it is the fault of the Bible as they tell us Eve was created for our pleasure.

But women are more that. They are more likely the first to welcome us to this world when we are born and are probably holding our hands when we depart. In between those two events they wipe our bums, cry when we slaughter each other and support us generally when our stupidity leads us up the garden path.

Sitting with “a glass of Shiraz and a partner” and enjoying the moment seems to me the ideal way to pass the time here on Earth.

Well, thank God I am still entire. The Dutch don’t care for that procedure. Somehow it became popular in some countries including the US. They claim it has hygienic advantages. If that’s the case, why not get rid of bowels while you are at it?

Yes, Berlioz. If a glass of red is ever to be denied, I am ready to pack it in. The one thing I was impressed by was the promise by Jesus to change water into wine.
(We will be raising our glasses to you and Uta in the aftrenoon.)

But I have to say, there’s quite a difference between circumcising a newborn male, which is done with a local anesthetic, and performing FGM on an eight-year-old girl with no anesthesia and oftentimes in an unsterile environment. Guess it’s good I wasn’t on that forum. The men might not have liked my response. 🙂